Seraph vs iBreviary
A free Catholic breviary, Missal, and rites drawer, and a quieter flame that never asks for an account. This page is written by the maker of Seraph — read it knowing that — and it will be generous to iBreviary, because iBreviary has earned it.
Our bias, declared: we make Seraph. The linked iBreviary sources support the specific free-download price, feature list, store listings, web office, and privacy wording identified below; this is not an independent review of either app. Our product details describe Seraph’s current published offering. If we've got something wrong, tell us and we'll fix it.
The main difference
Consider iBreviary if you want the Catholic Liturgy of the Hours plus the Missal, Lectionary, and rites on the phone — a liturgical utility, not a silent one-flame office. The US listing is iBreviary TS Plus, lockup on this check “Free · Designed for iPad,” seller Paolo Padrini, copyright “© Paolo Padrini (Creator) - Art & Coop Società Cooperativa (Developer).” JSON-LD Offer on that page is price 0, currency USD. This check found no In-App Purchases section on that listing; the product offer in the live HTML has hasInAppPurchases false. The catch is the product, not a paywall. iBreviary is the breviary, the Missal, the rites. It is not a full King James Bible you can finish as a plan. Their site also serves a web office and an Android download. We do not have Android.
Choose Seraph if you want something quieter: one flame kept daily, the whole King James Bible readable free, guided prayer paced by breath — and a hard privacy line: no account to create, no ads, and a public vow of no prayer analytics. Your prayer life stays on your device. Seraph+ is $6.99/mo or $59.99/yr on our US App Store listing and on our pricing page. The daily office is free. Sacred Seasons, including Advent, are not. There is no Seraph+ trial.
Side by side
| Feature | Seraph | iBreviary |
|---|---|---|
| Annual price | $59.99/yr | No yearly plan. The US App Store listing (id422601705) lockup is “Free · Designed for iPad,” re-read September 10, 2026. JSON-LD Offer on that page is price 0, currency USD. This check found no In-App Purchases section and no IAP SKU list. The Google Play listing JSON-LD Offer is also price 0, currency USD. We do not invent a subscription. |
| Monthly price | $6.99/mo | None published. Same US listing lockup and Offer. Same Play listing Offer. No monthly SKU is named on the pages cited here. Their homepage asks for a donation to support the website — that is a gift, not a plan price. |
| Family plan | — | No family SKU published. This check found no Family Sharing sentence on the US listing. We do not invent a family plan price. |
| Free trial | None — the free tier is the trial | Not applicable. There is no paid library to trial on the pages cited here. |
| Free, forever | Daily verse · 2 guided sessions · the whole KJV Bible (1,189 chapters) · every reading plan · streak flame · reminders | The download they price at 0. The US listing names Breviary, Missal and Lectionary in ten languages (Italian, English, Spanish, French, Romanian, Arabic, Portuguese, Turkish, Latin, Galician), Latin Vetus Ordo, main Christian prayers, rituals for the sacraments and celebrations, liturgical texts used in the Holy Land, a Rites section (Adoration of the Eucharist, the Sacraments, Blessings), Terra Sancta texts, a Saints section, store a day / up to 14 days / download the entire week, text size and background controls, and on iPad only create and manage your Missal. Owner, creator and founder: Paolo Padrini. Developer: Art & Coop Società Cooperativa. The Play listing repeats that same feature list. We do not restate ranking or download marketing from those pages. |
| Subscription opens | Full guided-prayer library (12 sessions) · Sacred Seasons (Advent & Lent) | Nothing on the pages cited here. The US listing has no In-App Purchases section; the product offer in the live HTML has hasInAppPurchases false. The Play listing JSON-LD Offer is price 0. We found no Contains ads chip and no In-app purchases section on that Play page. We do not invent ads or IAP from a third-party review. |
| Account required | No — no sign-up exists | No iBreviary app-account sentence on the store listings cited here. Their privacy page describes registration to the Forum and other liturgical services so you can post a message; conferment of data is optional, and without it you cannot publish a forum message. That is a site forum, not an App Store login. The web office on this check served today’s Hours without asking for an account. We do not invent an account requirement from Apple ID or from that forum form. |
| Liturgy of the Hours | Quiet daily office paced by breath. Not the Roman Breviary. No Invitatory-through-Night-Prayer cycle. | The product. The US listing: “the traditional Catholic prayer of the Breviary and all the texts of the Liturgy.” The web office on this check named Office of Readings, Morning Prayer, Daytime Prayers, Evening Prayer, and Night Prayer. We print the headings they use. We do not invent a USCCB license sentence the listings do not print. |
| Mass readings | None. Not a missal. No Order of Mass. | Named in the download. The US listing: Missal and Lectionary; “Create and manage your Missal” on iPad only. The web office exposes Reading and Missal tabs beside Breviary. We do not invent an Order of Mass table those pages do not print. |
| Rites, saints, and prayers | None of these as listed products. Breath-paced guided prayer, not a liturgical reference drawer. | The rest of the toolkit. The US listing names main Christian prayers; Rites for Adoration of the Eucharist, the Sacraments, Blessings; Terra Sancta liturgical texts; a Saints section; partnership with Custody of the Holy Land. The Play listing repeats Rites, Terra Sancta, Saints, and the same prayers line. |
| Spoken audio | None. Breath-paced guided prayer, not a spoken breviary. | Reading-screen text to speech, not a paid spoken Hours add-on. Version history on the US listing mentions a controller for when text to speech is running. This check found no spoken-Hours subscription SKU. |
| Prayer analytics | None — a public vow. Prayer data never leaves your device | Three first-party pages do not say the same sentence, and none of them is a prayer-analytics vow. Apple’s App Privacy label on the US listing (self-reported, not verified by Apple): Data Not Linked to You — Usage Data, Diagnostics. The expanded label on this check: Analytics (Usage Data — Product Interaction; Diagnostics — Performance Data, Other Diagnostic Data) and App Functionality (Usage Data — Other Usage Data; Diagnostics — Crash Data, Performance Data, Other Diagnostic Data). This check found no “Data Linked to You” section and no “Data Used to Track You” section. Their Google Play Data safety section: “No data shared with third parties”; “This app may collect these data types” — App info and performance; Data is encrypted in transit; Data can’t be deleted. Their privacy page is a site notice under Italian Legislative Decree 196/2003: personal data from registration to the Forum and liturgical services; optional conferment; holder Paolo Padrini, Via Morosini 15 A, Novi Ligure (AL), Italy. We print all of that. We do not restate rating or ranking marketing from those pages. |
| Bible | Full KJV bundled; offline on iPhone | A breviary and Missal, not a 1,189-chapter King James you can finish as a plan. The US listing names Lectionary and Missal, not a Bible library. We do not invent a Protestant reading plan inside iBreviary. |
| Platforms | iPhone and web | The US listing Information section names iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac (macOS 12.5 or later, Apple M1 or later), and Apple Vision. The same listing’s lockup prints “Designed for iPad” and does not print “Not verified for macOS” on this check. JSON-LD availableOnDevice on that page is “iPhone, iPad, iPod.” We print all three. The Google Play listing is Android, developer Paolo Padrini; JSON-LD author URL on that page is https://www.ibreviary.com. Their homepage points at a web office you can pray in the browser or embed as a widget, and at the Play download. |
| Tradition | Broadly Christian, KJV | Catholic liturgical utility. The US listing seller is Paolo Padrini, category Reference; it names Breviary, Missal, Lectionary, Latin Vetus Ordo, Rito Ambrosiano, Rito Monastico, and a partnership with Custody of the Holy Land. Copyright on that listing is © Paolo Padrini (Creator) - Art & Coop Società Cooperativa (Developer). |
| If you cannot pay | No scholarship or sponsorship path published. Advent and most guided sessions require Seraph+. | Download the app they already price at 0. The US listing Offer is price 0. The Play listing Offer is price 0. Use the web office they already publish. Their homepage donation box is for the website, not a required SKU. |
iBreviary’s US listing is a free download with the Hours, Missal, and rites inside. Their privacy pages do not agree on what is collected; read the table, not a single label. No worldwide cheapest-price claim is made here.
What iBreviary does better
The Hours as a Catholic book, and the door price. If “Breviary, Missal, Lectionary, rites, Latin, Android, a week stored offline” is the requirement, they meet it in one install. Their listing Offer is price 0. We gate ten guided sessions and Sacred Seasons behind Seraph+. They do not publish a paid plan on the pages cited here. We are a simpler daily office. They are a liturgical drawer.
They also ship Android, serve the Hours on the web without installing an app, and keep languages beside English. If you want the Catholic Liturgy of the Hours and the Missal as a free utility, rites and saints on the same screen, or a phone that is not an iPhone, iBreviary is the honest recommendation, and we are not in that contest.
What Seraph does differently
Restraint as a feature, and a Bible you can finish. No account between you and prayer — iBreviary’s privacy page describes optional forum registration, and we found no matching app-account sentence on the listing. Prayer data never leaves the device; their US listing reports Usage Data and Diagnostics as not linked, and their Play listing reports App info and performance collected. Two prices, written in plain numbers: $59.99 a year or $6.99 a month, auto-renew, cancel anytime. The entire KJV free — not a day’s office of psalms — bundled offline on iPhone, every chapter. A public web office you can open without installing an app. A streak that forgives a missed day instead of shaming it. No ads on free or paid. Guided prayer paced by breath. Compare the plan and features that fit your use, rather than assuming one worldwide price difference.
Three disclosures that belong here. The web subscription and the iPhone subscription are separate purchases and do not unlock each other. The complete offline Bible is the iPhone app; on the web, chapters you have already opened stay readable. And restoring a web subscription in a new browser emails a magic link, so we will not claim “no email ever.” There is no Seraph+ trial: you never try a paid session before buying it. The daily office is the trial of Seraph, not of the paid library.
When each app wins
iBreviary — if you want a free Catholic Hours, Missal, and rites drawer
Start from the US listing or the Play listing. Open the Breviary. Open the Missal. Use Rites if that is the work. Use the web office if you have not installed. Use Android if that is your phone. Do not come here first for a full King James you can read offline as a plan, or for a silent one-flame office with no account and a public vow that prayer never leaves the device. They are Paolo Padrini’s liturgical utility, and the listings say so.
Seraph — if you want a quiet office with no account, a full KJV, and a price you can read before you install
Ours, last on purpose. A flame, the KJV, two free guided sessions, reading plans, no sign-up. Paid for the remaining sessions and Sacred Seasons, free for the office. Small, new, iPhone-and-web only. If none of those sentences is what you came for, iBreviary is the better fit, and we would rather you found it here than felt sold to.
Sources and scope
Checked against the following official iBreviary pages on . These references do not establish an independent review or endorsement of Seraph. Subjective product fit remains our assessment.
- iBreviary TS Plus US App Store listing (id422601705)
Supports “Free · Designed for iPad,” JSON-LD Offer price 0 / USD, seller Paolo Padrini, developer Art & Coop Società Cooperativa, category Reference, copyright © Paolo Padrini (Creator) - Art & Coop Società Cooperativa (Developer), the Breviary / Missal / Lectionary / Rites / Terra Sancta / Saints / offline-days copy quoted above, Information devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac with Apple M1 or later, Apple Vision), JSON-LD availableOnDevice “iPhone, iPad, iPod,” App Privacy as parsed from the live HTML (Data Not Linked to You — Usage Data, Diagnostics; no Track section and no Linked section on this check), version-history text-to-speech wording, the App Store–linked privacy URL below, and no In-App Purchases section on this check (hasInAppPurchases false on the product offer). We do not restate their rating, review count, or ranking marketing.
- iBreviary on Google Play
Supports an Android listing, JSON-LD Offer price 0 / USD, developer Paolo Padrini, JSON-LD author URL https://www.ibreviary.com, the Breviary / Missal / Rites / Saints copy quoted above, Data safety “No data shared with third parties” / may collect App info and performance / Data is encrypted in transit / Data can’t be deleted, no Contains ads chip on this check, and no In-app purchases section on this check. We do not restate review counts or install totals from that page.
- iBreviary homepage
Supports a web office and website widget (“Pray online or put iBreviary on your website or blog”), an Android download pointing at Google Play, support at ibreviary@me.com, and a donation box to support the iBreviary website. We do not reuse download, rating, or testimonial marketing from that page.
- iBreviary privacy policy
Supports a site notice under Legislative Decree 196/2003, personal data from registration to the Forum and liturgical services, optional conferment (without it you cannot publish a forum message), and holder Paolo Padrini, Via Morosini 15 A, Novi Ligure (AL), Italy. This page does not describe an App Store subscription or ads. The US listing’s App Privacy label is cited separately above.
- iBreviary web office
Supports a browser Hours page dated on this check, with Office of Readings, Morning Prayer, Daytime Prayers, Evening Prayer, and Night Prayer, plus Reading, Prayers, Missal, and More tabs. This check served that office without an account form.
Daily office free, with no account · Seraph+ $6.99/mo or $59.99/yr · auto-renews · cancel anytime
Web and iPhone subscriptions are separate purchases and do not unlock each other